I watched the NFL draft on Saturday but, honestly, past the first round I didn’t know any of those players. I can tell you that the first four picks they made were positions of need for the team.

They went with Hakeem Nicks, the wide receiver from North Carolina, with their first pick. I am not the first one to say this, and I won’t be the last, but Nicks will not fill Plaxico’s shoes. While he had a relatively unimpressive combine, Nicks does have some very promising qualities. At 6′1″ and 212 pounds, he’s bigger than any other Giants’ receiver that played last year (other than Plax). He ran a pretty slow 4.6 in the 40 at the combine but the highlight video below shows that Nicks is an effective runner after the catch. Most importantly, Nicks was one of the most sure-handed recievers in the draft. I think Nicks has a chance to really contribute to the Giants in his rooke year and hopefully help to fill the void that Burress left.

The Giants’ second round pick was spent on Clint Sintim, a linebacker from Virginia. At 6′2″ and 256 pounds, Sintim definitely has the size to play linebacker in the NFL and he has decent speed for that massive frame. He ran a 4.83 in the 40 at the combine. However, he played as an outside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme in college which is much different than playing the outside ‘backer position in a 4-3 scheme in the NFL. We’ll see if the Giants try him out on the outside or if they groom him to battle Jonathan Goff to backup Antonio Pierce in the middle. The Giants second pick in Round 2 was used on offensive tackle William Beatty from Connecticut. Beatty is a beast at 6′6″ and 307 pounds. He should learn and improve playing behind the veteran starters on the Giants O-line.

The rest of the Giants picks were spent on players with a great combination of size and speed. During his tenure as GM, Jerry Reese has had a lot of success picking up players who have this combo and can contribute primarily on special teams, at least at first. Brandon Jacobs and Dominik Hixon were both very good special teams players for the Giants before earning starting spots. Mathias Kiwanuka and Justin Tuck were also players who flew under many teams’ radar and were picked up for their unique combination of size and speed. As I’ve said many times before, I trust completely in Reese’s and Tom Coughlin’s personnel decisions. They have a great track record in picking the right players for their team (arguably the best in the league) over the last four years or so. I wouldn’t be surprised if more than one of these draftees or undrafted free agents that they Giants have signed make an impact on special teams or otherwise.

Here’s a list of the rest of the Giants draft picks.

Here’s a list of the undrafted free agents that the Giants have picked up so far.